Knut Seip Explained

Knut Lehre Seip (born 13 April 1942 in Oslo, Norway) is professor in environmental management at Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway. Seip obtained his masters in physics at the University of Oslo, UiO, in 1969. He obtained his ph.D (doctor philos.) at UiO in 1992 with the thesis “Mathematical models of lake ecosystems.” Seip has served at several positions at Center for industrial research, SI / SINTEF. Professor Seip held the first chair in Environmental management in Norway, at Telemark University College 1994-2000, then he became professor and head of Research and Management at Oslo University College. From 2011 he has been professor and vice dean for research and development at the Faculty of technology, arts and design at Oslo and Akershus University College of applied Sciences. He is the son of the Norwegian historian Jens Arup Seip.

Scientific focus

Seip has worked in applied mathematics with problems related to doubly curved surfaces, within the ecological field with models of rocky shore and lake ecosystems (e.g.,;^{[1] [2]}), with oil pollution,^[3] and with population cycles in terrestrial environments.^[4] Within macroeconomic field he has worked on leading and lagging indexes and breakpoint identification. He has developed two methods for studying interactions between actors, the “leading –lagging, LL- strength method” and the “angle frequency method”. The first extends the analysis of associations with analyses of “leading” and “lagging” relationships for cyclic phenomena. The other extends the analysis of slopes in regression analysis with the analysis of “compass directions”. Both methods are used to characterize the behavior of actors, for example as competitors, facilitators and gainers or engineers. The methods are used within ecology^{[5] [6]} and economy.^{[7] [8]} In economy the method is furthermore used to identify leading indexes that forecasts future developments in the economy ^[9] to secure that information used by an economic actor is available before it is used ^[10] and to identify which economic actor listen to whom, when they do it, and why.^[11] In global warming studies the LL- method is used to examine when carbon dioxide changes comes before global temperature changes ^[12] and to study teleconnections between ocean oscillations.^[13]

Books

Seip has written two books with coauthor Fred Wenstøp.

• Seip, K.L. and F. Wenstøp: A primer on environmental decision-making. An integrative quantitative approach (2006) Springer Verlag.
• Wenstøp, F. and K.L. Seip: Verdier og valg - verdibasert beslutningsanalyse i praksis (2009) Universitetsforlaget.

Notes and References

1. “Mathematical models of rocky shore ecosystems” in Jørgen, S.E. and W.J. Mitsch. 1983. Application of ecological modelling in environmental management, part B. p. 341-426, ElsevierISBN 0-444-42247-1
2. Seip, K.L. and C. Reynolds 1995. Phytoplankton functional attributes along trophic gradient and season. Limnology and Oceanography, 40 (3):589-597
3. Seip, K.L. 1991. Decisions with multiple environmental objectives. The siting of oil drilling wells in Norway. In J. Ganoulis (Ed.) Water Resources Engineering Risk Assessment. Springer Verlag. Heidelberg. pp. 503-524
4. Holmengen, N. And Seip, K.L. 2009. Cycle lengths and phase portrait characteristics as probes for predator-prey interactions: comparing simulations and observed data. Can. J. Zool. 87(1) 20-30)
5. Sandvik, G., et al., Using the angle frequency method to detect signals of competition and predation in experimental time series. Ecology Letters, 2004. 7(8): p. 640-652.
6. Leyequien, E., W.F. de Boer, and A. Cleef, Influence of body size on coexistence of bird species. Ecological Research, 2007. 22(5): p. 735-741.
7. Seip, K.L. and R. McNown, The timing and accuracy of leading and lagging business cycle indicators: a new approach. International journal of forecasting, 2007. 22: p. 277-287.
8. McNown, R. and K.L. Seip, Periods and structural breaks in US economic history 1959-2007: A data driven identification. J. Policy Modeling 2011. 33: p. 169-182.
9. Seip, K. L. Y. Yilmaz and M. Schroder,Comparing Sentiment- and Behavioral-Based Leading Indexes for Industrial Production: When Does Each Fail? Economies, 2019. 7(4).
10. Seip, K. L., Does tax reduction have an effect on gross domestic products? An emprical investigation. J. Policy Modeling 2019. 41(6): p. 1128-1143
11. The GDP, the US treasury yield and the federal funds rate: who follows whom, when and why? Journal of Financial Economic Policy 2021.
12. Seip, K. L. Ø. Grøn and H. Wang. Carbon dioxide precedes temperature change during short-term pauses in multi-millennial palaeoclimate records. Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology 2018, 506, p.101-111.
13. Seip, K. L. and Ø. Grøn, On the statistical nature of distinct cycles in global warming variables. Climate dynamics 2019, 52: p. 7329-7337